I've been trying for months to actually sit down and get the weapons and outfits for Delphi finished, but I only realized recently that the thing that has been stymieing my progress is the fact that I created the ships before I created the weapons. As a result, I've been trying to create scaled weapon values that match the rough defaults I entered for the ship armor and shield values. Especially because of the unique way that Delphi will handle shields, this was causing some serious problem. So, it's time to finally buckle down and fix this. I have a game full of planets and sprites, but no functional physics aside from basic flying around (although I think it'd be cool if somebody made a Nova plugin that focuses on diplomatic missions and involves very little weaponry).

I am scrapping all the data values. Every ship will be reset to 1 armor point and 1 shield point, and I'm going to create the weapons first. Then, I'll scale the ship values around the weapons I create. In theory, I will be able to create a wide range of different weapons and outfits for defensive and offensive purposes, scale the ships around them, and then trim out some of the weapons if there seems to be too many, or if certain ones given an unfair advantage. For instance, I really actually want the basic Electromag Laser to be a rapid-fire weapon, but because the weakest hull in the game only had 20 hitpoints, even a gun with 1 shield damage and 1 armor damage was capable of incinerating some smaller ships too quickly. I'm going to let my imagination run wild, create a whole bunch of crazy and awesome weapons, and then trim the list to fit accordingly.

Here are some examples I'll be experimenting with:

• An Electromag designed for fighters and only appearing in the outfitter when flying one, with weaker stats than the normal laser but a front-quadrant arc.
• A "conventional" artillery weapon, using expensive shells as ammo, causing lethal damage over distance (Nichron artillery degrades with distance, this wouldn't).
• Various versions of the mid-range Electromag, some with increased damage but lower firing rates, and others the opposite.
• A flak-like PD weapon with increased kickback, but average damage. Good for warding off fighters.
• A few different mining weapons, for people with different tastes in asteroid-blasting. One, for certain, will be a super-short range pulverizer with excellent damage, while the other will be a medium range "blasting charge" released from the ship like a nuke.
• A short-range beam weapon with excellent shield damage but no armor damage, used to keep a ship's shields down for an extended time period. However, the weapon will drain a large amount of energy each second.
• The Pariah Hull Cutter, an extremely short-range (5 pixels) invisible beam weapon that deals terrifying hull damage - designed to simulate mechanical tools built into Pariah ships that tear open enemy vessels. Don't let them fly too close.

Also, a note about shields in Delphi, for the uninitiated:

In Nova, shields were basically just an extra layer of armor that could slowly regenerate and recharge when landing. From an electrical standpoint, the energy requirements to keep up a full barrier shield like this would be astronomical, even from a futuristic "anything's possible" world of science. So, the shields in Delphi behave a bit differently. The strength of your shields is basically a threshold measurements of how much damage you can absorb from a single shot before it strikes your hull. The shields recharge much faster than in Nova, but their maximum capacity is usually measured in tens, not hundreds or thousands like some of the capital vessels in Nova. If you are flying a ship with 50 armor and 10 shields, you can take a shot of up to 10 damage without it hurting your armor. If somebody tears into you with a heavier round dealing 10 shield damage and 10 armor damage, you'll be patching up a fifth of your armor. HOWEVER, if somebody comes after with a physical round that doesn't penetrate shields, you'll be completely safe. With that in mind, pretty much all physical rounds penetrate shields, because the shields are designed to deflect energy, not bullets. No physical gun in Delphi doesn't require ammo, though, so it can become prohibitively costly to use impact weapons.

@delphi, on 10 September 2012 - 01:06 PM, said in EVN - Delphi:

... I'm going to create the weapons first. Then, I'll scale the ship values around the weapons I create.

Before man had the tank, man had the cannon. This is what ran through my head the moment I read the above till I finished reading the post. To be honest, I'm realizing just now I'm in a similar boat: I've made all the weapons but I'm not scaling the ships around them. I'm just designing a system for their defenses without considering how easy or hard it is to destroy certain ships. In my case, however, I just need to start taking the weapon values into account.

Have fun with the weapon brainstorming.

Quote

Also, a note about shields in Delphi, for the uninitiated:

<snip>

I've been considering making shields work in a similar way in Legacy. Mind if I take notes?

Greetings Delphi and anyone else watching this topic!

I just wanted to declare that I am also huge EV fan and I have been checking this thread every couple months for the past few years in development and your dedication to the project is inspiring. Keep up the good work.

I feel that many EV fans are riding on the back of this project and waiting for its completion as it really seems like it will be the last frontier for escape velocity. Were all still here with you Delphi!

Also, if you have a way I can donate some money to help you justify more of your marvellous work then i'd happily like to know how to do that!

You are special! Created this account just to say this!

Indeed. This is a much larger project than I realized. You've got a lot of work put into it, with quite a huge picture in mind.

I haven't played too many TC's so I don't really know what to expect, but it caught my attention as soon as I entered the topic with my old account. I came in late so I never read all the pages, but I'm really looking forward to this being released along with the final chapters of Anathema.

Definitely. Following this thread is probably one of the few reasons I even still think about EVN at all.

ques the music "Don't stop, believing!" lol.

Seriously though Delphi.. I took like a 3 year brake from thinking of EVN. I just now rediscovered it and redownloaded it and am enjoying it thoroughly once more. My main point in saying this is that you amazed me before when I played and you amaze me now with the new stuff you are making. Don't ever stop this production until it's done mate!

oh and I know back a couple years there was a post somewhere about the tc being released in sections. Any thoughts on how that is happening time wise?

@1purevengeance1, on 19 October 2012 - 10:56 AM, said in EVN - Delphi:

I know back a couple years there was a post somewhere about the tc being released in sections. Any thoughts on how that is happening time wise?

I still have to complete a functional universe, but the storyboard has been laid out on paper. Once the universe works and ships can fight each other properly, I'll dive right into writing. Fortunately, that's my strong suit, far past anything graphics or audio-related.

For now, though, I've been working steadily on ships, right from the ground, up. To best get a personal sense of scaling, I'm ensuring I build the shipyard list from weakest to strongest, or at least grouping from "most common" to "impossibly rare". Most of the ships that I've entered tentative testing values for are civilian vehicles like the Journeyman or the Mining Armature, but I'll move along to the military ships in due time.

I've also added a couple of ships that were not part of the original draft. I wanted there to be a true sense of infrastructure around the NDC universe, so I'm creating several less-useful ships more naturally suited to purely civilian ventures. These are things like passenger transports, small unarmed courier vessels, and construction/maintenance craft. Pictured here is one of the constructor vehicles, the Forklift:

The Forklift (working title) is a very large ship for the civilian market, but is only built in such a way so that it can assemble large starship components away from a shipyard, such as battleships and dominants. It is the largest construction vehicle, and will usually only appear in systems where there are shipyards, or where you can find space stations being erected. Despite their pedestrian nature, all construction ships are available for the player to purchase, as they can also double as effective cargo haulers by way of a refit available à la Starbridge. The refit ultimately improves their dismal maneuvering stats, and supposedly removes their ability to properly build things, trading their internal factories for empty space to carry goods. However, they do have a notable advantage in that they are capable of self-repair without the addition of a costly outfit, so they may be valuable to players who need to operate independently in less-than-hospitable space for an extended duration.

With outfits in mind, a word about those: the relaunch of the Delphi ship set means I'm finally putting into effect my alternative upgrade method. Outfits for ships are revealed only as they are applicable to that particular vessel, in order to help balance the difference between upgrades available to a 10km battleship and a 20m shuttle. Most items will be flagged with control bits, hiding and showing them according to the class of vehicle you are flying. This will not only help to standardize the capabilities of different factions, but will also encourage aggressive strategy when picking the right ship for the job. Transports will not have access to cruiser-grade weaponry, but may instead have specialized shielding upgrades available. Scientific ships gain access to a series of sensor boosters and defensive mechanisms that are unavailable on military vessels due to their experimental or specialized nature. Only a few ships will be capable of running specialized missions, such as colonizing a planet. Some ships will simply be completely incompatible with particular types of weaponry. You'll notice that no NDC ships are capable of mounting the graviton cannons used by the Enclave Colonies, but at the same time, Enclave access to the NDC's Nichron Cannon tech will be limited at best.

Where this gets really cool, though, is in how mass is now handled. Instead of weapons and systems taking up a ship's storage space, they are calculated as draw on the ship's internal systems, such as the central computer. A shuttle simply doesn't have the capability to handle the complex calculations required to operate some advanced technologies, and so while these systems may still appear in the outfitter, they will be outside the vessel's CPU capabilities. Basic systems like weapons only take up 1 to 2 system "slots", while specialized systems like jammers and sensor boosters may take 3 or 4. As smaller vessels usually have less than 10 to 20 system slots, careful strategy will be absolutely essential. Sure, that maneuvering boost could be useful, but can you afford trading that shield improvement or a weapon to accommodate it?

Apologies to Qaanol if this makes the game unbeatable in a shuttle. Admittedly, the "shuttles" in Delphi are far weaker than their Nova cousins. They're just meant for administrative duties; not even really well-suited to hauling cargo. Probably better off in a Versatile, or another small transport.

Addendum: For those interested, yes, I'm still creating the ship models using SketchUp and Bryce.

This post has been edited by Delphi : 04 November 2012 - 03:40 AM

I love it when I get to see how your concepts for an idea start and then finish in a later post. You also always leave a nice dramatic pause in between these 2 steps where everyone is left wondering how this new idea will turn out.

As always, very VERY nice artwork you have there mate

Keep it up!

@delphi, on 04 November 2012 - 03:37 AM, said in EVN - Delphi:

The Forklift (working title) is a very large ship for the civilian market, but is only built in such a way so that it can assemble large starship components away from a shipyard, such as battleships and dominants. It is the largest construction vehicle, and will usually only appear in systems where there are shipyards, or where you can find space stations being erected. Despite their pedestrian nature, all construction ships are available for the player to purchase, as they can also double as effective cargo haulers by way of a refit available à la Starbridge. The refit ultimately improves their dismal maneuvering stats, and supposedly removes their ability to properly build things, trading their internal factories for empty space to carry goods. However, they do have a notable advantage in that they are capable of self-repair without the addition of a costly outfit, so they may be valuable to players who need to operate independently in less-than-hospitable space for an extended duration.

Just remembering the classic Escape Velocity easter-egg weapon and its sound:
TheForklift.mp3

This post has been edited by Terek E`Ban : 05 November 2012 - 04:22 AM

@terek-e-ban, on 05 November 2012 - 04:21 AM, said in EVN - Delphi:

Just remembering the classic Escape Velocity easter-egg weapon and its sound:
TheForklift.mp3

Heh, that's exactly what went through my head, as well.

And as always, fantastic work, Delphi.

I created a new ship, one meant to become something of an iconic element of the game. As a result, be aware that there are spoilers approaching.

Spoiler

Within the NDC universe, there isn't much of a market for private ship captains. Most people are either employed by the government and given access to expensive, advanced technology otherwise not feasible in their lifetimes, or they live ordinary lives planetside. However, there have been, on occasion, rare privateers that privately fund their own adventures, and take to the stars in craft of their own choosing. With the war between the NDC and the Enclave Colonies coming to a boiling point, increasing hostilities between the two major governments and a sense of overall suspicion has all but forced these mercenaries into retirement. As a major side-story in Delphi, you'll encounter one of these mercenaries during their sunset years, and have the option to help them complete their final bounties, eventually earning the right to purchase their ship, and causing a few major ripples in the balance of power between the two major political factions. They fly a heavily-modified transport no longer found in production, but nonetheless extremely well-maintained and fit for combat. It is not a military cruiser by any stretch of the imagination, but is arguably the most well-armed ship of its size in the game.

Anyway, here's the ship. You can read the spoiler if you want, or just take it as it is.

For those who didn't read the spoiler, here's a quick snippet without giving anything away. The ship is a centuries-old design, no longer in production anywhere in known space. It only becomes available after completing a specific mission. Back in its era, it was called the "Hammer" class of transport, an early precursor to the Versatile. The loading arms on the side were used to hold external cargo crates, but in the version you'll see, this functionality has since been removed. The "pipes" that run along the body of the craft are actually part of its sensor system, an element that has since been streamlined into the hull in newer models of spacecraft. It is a clunky old design, but the version you'll find is far more interesting.

It would be pretty cool if it had the ability to spin really fast and slam one of its 'hammer heads' against an enemy, dealing massive damage. An extremely close-range offensive tactic, but a neat one.

Look's like an Enterprise ^_^

wait... is the bottom left part of the picture the front or the back? I just assumed it was the back since it looked like there were engines there O.o

It looks really neat Delphi. My only real critique (if I saw the ship correctly front to back) would be too add something inbetween the hammer heads (I guess that's how I'd refer to um?). Maybe it's fine, just it looks a little flat. Could just be me.

Anyhow, nice work. Keep it up!

@1purevengeance1, on 08 November 2012 - 01:50 PM, said in EVN - Delphi:

wait... is the bottom left part of the picture the front or the back? I just assumed it was the back since it looked like there were engines there O.o

It looks really neat Delphi. My only real critique (if I saw the ship correctly front to back) would be too add something inbetween the hammer heads (I guess that's how I'd refer to um?). Maybe it's fine, just it looks a little flat. Could just be me.

Anyhow, nice work. Keep it up!

The bottom left edge is the front of the ship. It possesses an in-built (on in this case, modded) missile array in place of the transport's original bunk area. The original design specifications for the Hammer category of transport required a larger crew for daily operations, especially the handling of cargo, but the ship can now be piloted by only a single person, leaving more room for physical improvements to the hull. The sensor assembly snakes around the edges of the missile aperture, assisting in targeting.

I agree that the ship looks fairly spartan in the midsection, but I wanted it deliberately simple so that it will render well from a distance. It's a small ship, only a few pixels larger than a Journeyman, so I want to avoid overcomplicating the hull details. It'll look good once rendered, I promise.

Also, I would like a public opinion. Does the ship look better with the loading arms, or without? I kind of like the version without them, just because of the simplicity I mentioned a second ago. The arms will probably get lost after shrinking the sprite down to normal size, and I wonder if it might just be better to leave it without them.

I like it with the loading arms a lot more. The ship almost looks like it could land on those arms and the hammerhead part at the front.

Agreed. It does make sense to remove them since it doesn't carry external cargo containers anymore, but it still looks better with them. Maybe shield generators could be installed in the arms. The arms could then be moved to different positions to redirect shield strength where it's needed most to deflect incoming fire. In-game this could be represented by a higher than normal shield strength for a ship its size.

I think the model with the arms removed is just lacking detail on the aft section. It doesn't need the arms necessarily just something needs to fill that space otherwise it looks oddly void of purpose. In my opinion anyways.

I must say I like how it looks with the arms better than without, however I see what you mean about the shrinking it down and losing the detail in the arms... In reality, of course it's up to you

Regardless, I know this will turn out amazing as pretty much all of your graphical creations here have been turning out as such

Wow, just been skimming through some of the pages... and speechless at some of the designs and ideas you have come up with.
I'd buy this game as a seperate game entirely with some of the concepts you've introduced. (EV4 ANYONE? ;)/> )

Just to get this straight in my head:

Capital ships etc aren't as "UBERLEET1337" as they are in stock EVN. You're trying achieving diversity and that is fantastic (part of me dislikes how elite and powerful the polaris is in EVN, buy polaris tech. Enter god mode. job done).

With the ships that you mentioned like the science/primarily tech advanced ones, is there any chance you could introduce a kind of EMP/Gun type disabler weapon/immunity outfit (like the Ionize panels you get in the EVN Pirate line)?

Is that even possible to have multiple types with the Nova engine?

Example:
tech savy ship
has amazing scanners/jammers etc but no real offensive fire power
(following your certain ships can only use certain outfits/weps)

VS (or is attacked by)

Destroyer class Pirate ship... (has an array of offensive weapons but no scanners as such)

You expect the destroyer to win the fight easily (or why would he have attacked in the first place). But because Tech savy ship is advanced in jammers none of the weapons the destroyer has can target the ship (or only some of them?).

Therefore tech savvy ship escapes less/unharmed or maybe even wins the fight.

Is there a way of having certain weapons not working/firing/being able to target X if a ship has a certain outfit equipped?

Limit how OP this is by having the tech ships not being able to equip guns for example (but then you could get round this by having escorts... hrmmm) or limit them to being able to disable ownly one type of weapon per ship (so having 2 or 3 escorts grants you immunity to multiple types of guns/missiles etc but thats all the escorts do...).

Is this in any way practical/doable then?

This post has been edited by undead_shadow : 07 December 2012 - 07:51 PM